In this chapter of The Daring Author podcast Jenna sits down with the ever-insightful Lauren Clarke, her writing coach, editor extraordinaire, and cherished friend.
Together, we peel back the curtain on the transformative process that has sharpened my storytelling prowess. Hear Lauren's journey from a jack-of-all-trades to the queen of romance edits, and discover the unique editorial alchemy.
As authors, we're often told that the devil is in the details, but how do we spot those devils? I'll share my personal toolkit for self-editing, and Lauren offers an editor's perspective on nurturing a robust narrative framework from the get-go. Learn how to dance the delicate tango of character and plot development, and why sometimes, letting your story breathe can lead to its most vibrant incarnation.
Wrapping up our episode, we venture into the practicalities of the author-editor relationship, with tips straight from the trenches of my own publishing expeditions. From budgeting to booking, we'll guide you through the whys and hows of finding your editorial soulmate.
About Lauren:
LAUREN CLARKE is a copy curator, content creator and all-round lover of words. She has edited and crafted stories for some of Australia’s leading magazines as well as working with some of the world’s top romance and women’s fiction authors to help them hone their craft.
Book your complimentary discovery call here!
Discover what social media platform is right for you here!
Download 50 content ideas for authors here!
Website: https://thedaringpress.com/
In this chapter of The Daring Author podcast Jenna sits down with the ever-insightful Lauren Clarke, her writing coach, editor extraordinaire, and cherished friend.
Together, we peel back the curtain on the transformative process that has sharpened my storytelling prowess. Hear Lauren's journey from a jack-of-all-trades to the queen of romance edits, and discover the unique editorial alchemy.
As authors, we're often told that the devil is in the details, but how do we spot those devils? I'll share my personal toolkit for self-editing, and Lauren offers an editor's perspective on nurturing a robust narrative framework from the get-go. Learn how to dance the delicate tango of character and plot development, and why sometimes, letting your story breathe can lead to its most vibrant incarnation.
Wrapping up our episode, we venture into the practicalities of the author-editor relationship, with tips straight from the trenches of my own publishing expeditions. From budgeting to booking, we'll guide you through the whys and hows of finding your editorial soulmate.
About Lauren:
LAUREN CLARKE is a copy curator, content creator and all-round lover of words. She has edited and crafted stories for some of Australia’s leading magazines as well as working with some of the world’s top romance and women’s fiction authors to help them hone their craft.
Book your complimentary discovery call here!
Discover what social media platform is right for you here!
Download 50 content ideas for authors here!
Website: https://thedaringpress.com/
Welcome to the Daring Author podcast, the show that takes you behind the scenes of building a successful author business, bringing you inspiring interviews and information on writing and marketing ideas for your book so that you can build an easeful, empowering and profitable author business. I'm your host, jenna Lee, owner of the Daring Press, a virtual marketing and support agency where we help indie authors who are ready to take their author business to the next level with more ease, growth and time. You can find the episode show notes and a bunch of marketing resources at thedaringpresscom. Let's become Daring authors by diving into today's episode. Hello and welcome back to another chapter of the Daring Author podcast. Today we have a special guest and my writing coach and my editor and a friend of mine, lauren Clath. Welcome to the show.
Lauren Clarke:Hey, thank you so much for having me, Jenna. I'm so excited to be here.
Jenna Lee:Yes, I'm so excited to have you. We've rescheduled this four times, but and I was looking back at the date, and it was over two years ago that we originally started- writing.
Lauren Clarke:Oh my gosh. It feels like yesterday, though. I feel like the last two years just flown right. So I am a content creator, a copy curator, an editor and a writing coach, which basically means that I love words a whole lot. I work across a variety of different genres, but I do most of my work in romance fiction, and I also speak at events, host workshops and courses and basically work one-on-one with authors to try and help them make their story as good as it can be.
Jenna Lee:And you're so good at it. You're so good at it I can vouch for that. I was thinking I'm like we've been working together for like I don't even know like three, four years, something crazy.
Lauren Clarke:Yeah.
Jenna Lee:And yeah, you've just helped me so much with you know my writing and just being having that accountability and to make me a better writer, like yeah. I owe it all to you. Yeah, that's why I'm like everyone needs to know about Lauren. But I was thinking. I'm like I don't actually want people to so many people to book in with you or anything, because then I'll miss my time.
Lauren Clarke:I just want to say, as you were saying all those lovely things, which I really appreciate, but I think everyone needs to acknowledge as well that it's actually it's you, jenna. You're the one who's doing the work here. I might be there with guidance and tips and advice, but I'm a big believer that it's like you who should be celebrated when your work increases, like when your capacity for word count or when your talent and skill level increase. That's you. You're doing that, not me.
Jenna Lee:Yeah, I know, but like having your support there and, you know, helping me move forward and like questioning and like you know, your comments with when it comes to editing and stuff, it all like adds up to make it, you know, better and to help me improve over the years. And yeah, it's just, we always say dream team. Right, Absolutely 100%. Yeah, so I guess to kick us off as well, you know, can you? You're a writer yourself, so I'd love to know, like your writing journey and what really led you to, you know, creating your editing business, creating Inc, and like, yeah, how it all sort of started.
Lauren Clarke:I've always loved words. For as long as I can remember, I used to read the dictionary in my free time as a kid. So I think that really should be the level of nerd that I am. And then, when I left school, I did a few different things. I used to manage stand-up comedians, I hosted crab racing, I was an actor teaching in school, and then I sort of just felt like a bit lost, like nothing really was perfect for me, and so I ended up going back to the thing that I'd always loved, which was words, which was storytelling. So I started. I've worked in magazines and then did some nonfiction work. As he said, I've written some stories that I'm a hybrid author. I've had some published traditionally, some independently published.
Lauren Clarke:But my editing journey started when I well, I guess really kicked off when I'd been editing a few different books, and one of the books that I edited was for a friend's young adult book, and it went quite well. And then I had an author contact me and said oh, you edited Laura's YA book. That was great, would you mind editing my adult book? And this was at the time of like 50 Shades of Grey, just before that sort of got big. And so when she asked me to edit her adult book, I simply thought she meant it was a book for adults. I didn't realize it was adult romance and at the time I was quite young, quite naive and innocent and my eyes were opened. But I fell in love with it.
Lauren Clarke:As a genre, I just something about romance, happily ever after. What's not to love, right? And her book went really quite well and for some reason she attributed a lot of her success to me and then word of mouth spread and you know that was a good sort of 10, 15 years ago now and it's, it's been a wild journey. We've now expanded. I've got a team of beautiful editors who work with me who are amazing, and I think the thing that we Really sort of pride ourselves on is that we like to do sort of like people first editing, like we really care about the author. On the other end of it, we make sure we praise you guys for the epic things you're doing right, as well as pointing out ways where we think things could be made Even better, because I think that it has to be both sides of the coin like that, because no one likes just getting a red pen through their work.
Jenna Lee:Yeah, and it's quite daunting to when you put so much like Of your yeah of yourself in it and your work, like, and then when somebody criticizes it and I always say, like I've worked with editors in the past and you know it's always about finding an editor and an editing team that really you know Do you criticize, like do criticize your work to make it better, but they also do it in a way that's really not like I Don't know if you can hear that that's my vacuum going on in the background. It's a robotic vacuum. So she's telling me she's done a cleaning. So like, okay, yeah, you go back to your.
Lauren Clarke:You did good.
Jenna Lee:So, yeah, just the way, the way that you sort of, um, yeah, analyze it and, yeah, give that support of like, oh, you've done really well here, but maybe we could expand it this way or make it better by adding in this thing and like, yeah, just the way you word, it really supports and helps. You know, because editing is such a crucial part of the writing process. You know it, you know you think, like the first draft, like getting it out of your head and On, you know, out of your head creating the story. I find like the, the easy process and then, like, everyone dreads the editing, editing part of it. So, if you can make that a journey that doesn't feel so like, yeah, just like Constantly criticizing each in every single word, making it a nice experience, I've found, yeah, working with you and your team, like, yeah, you just make it such a nice experience and it's, yeah, it is actually. I like that part of the process now which is crazy.
Jenna Lee:While we're on that sort of topic, I'd love to talk about like Self-editing. You know, when it comes to self-editing, you're writing like what sort of processes do you sort of recommend? You know when to edit, when to self-edit, and like how? Yeah, over the years You've seen sort of what works best and it's probably different for everyone.
Lauren Clarke:But yeah, we could. I think those as, as he said, I think it's different for everyone. Different people work well with different techniques. But one of my favorite things or piece of advice that I've read was from Stephen King's book on writing, where he says you know, like the idea is, you finish a manuscript, it's done, and then you take it and you put it in your drawer and you don't look at it for as long as you can. You need to break up with your manuscript to be able to edit it, because otherwise you still emotionally attach to it. So I think that the more time that you can give yourself before you go into self-edit, the better.
Lauren Clarke:Having said that, a lot of the authors I work with are authors who are churning out lots of books, or who might be, you know, on a bit of a time deadline, and they may not have the luxury of going cool, I can put my book in the drawer for two months and then I'll wait and come back to it. So another way that we can sort of cheat around this, I guess, is to get in bed with another book. So start writing your next story. Generally, what we write, that's where our heart will go. So the more progress you make on that next story, the more analytical you'll be able to be when you go back in to edit the one that you're working on. Hmm, that's our actual editing tips on like how you can do that. There are a few different things. So I like to recommend creating a reading experience the first time you do yourself edit, so reading it as you would as a reader, whether that's on your Kindle, a device Printed out on a piece, on pieces of paper probably more than one If you are doing that, if you're a paperback reader, but like creating that reading experience and just going from start to finish, and then that's going to give you an overall sense of flow and hopefully as well it's going to help you see the great things in your manuscript.
Lauren Clarke:Because sometimes when we go to self edit, we can feel really daunted. We can get bogged down in Spelling mistakes here, or a sentence that wasn't finished here, or a part where we've written fill in the surname or the sex scene later, or whatever the case may be. So by Doing it in that reading experience, it can be easier to move past those things. We're not tempted to fix them, we're just enjoying the story for what it is. So after you read through, I, like in an ideal world, I'd love my clients to write down a list of the things they love about this story, because, again, we've got to make this a positive thing. Editing should be good about celebrating all the hard work you've done.
Lauren Clarke:You wrote a book that's bloody awesome. Am I allowed to swear? Sorry, if I'm not, it was a software and gentle swear, but yeah. So writing them all the great things about your book and then also writing a list of the bigger picture things that you think may need Attention or that you're unsure of. And then it's about going through, making some of those changes or, if you're unsure on some of those changes, perhaps Consulting like a beta reader or, of course, saving the question and asking it of your developmental or structural editor. When you do you go and get that done down the track.
Jenna Lee:Mmm, I love that and those tips. When you say them, I'm like, hey, you've told me to do that. Like sort of like like bulbs me of like, yeah, working with you in our time together. I'm like, hey, you've said that, you've said this, I've had to do that. So, yeah, it's awesome to have that sort of structure there. When it comes to and I know you've sort of worked with me through this as well like Breaking down would probably let's like go back to like even before writing, like in terms of the plotting stage, do you have tips around for plotters or people that might not like to plot out the book, like just setting up the book in like the Main things that you will need to know that are gonna help you and I know what you're gonna say, but I'm not gonna spoil it because you told me to do this when we are plotting out a book together. But, yeah, tips around that stage of writing.
Lauren Clarke:I am a big believer that there is definitely no rules when it comes to writing. Sure, there are technically grammar rules, I guess, but I think that everything can be broken. Writing is a creative experience and it's all about you and your journey. So, when it comes to you know how you should write a book or how you should prepare to write a book, I don't think there's one. This must be done or you cannot write, because we're all different. We all work well under different circumstances.
Lauren Clarke:Some things that I have found can be useful, if you do like doing a bit of pre-writing work, Can be things like, obviously, identifying your lead characters. I think it's pretty hard to go into a story without knowing, at least to some extent, who your protagonists are. So when I say who they are, this doesn't have to necessarily mean you know the feeling they had on their sandwich in third grade on the second day, but having at least a vague idea of who they are, what makes them unique, what makes them special characters. If you like to go more in depth and I usually do like that, because I am someone who's pretty organised by nature If I'm writing a book, I like to plot and then I write about 20% and then I scrap it all and re-plot. That's sort of how I'm a plotter on the goer, but I do always like to go into a book with a strong idea of goal, motivation and character.
Lauren Clarke:So basically, you know these character, sorry goal, motivation and conflict. So the idea being we have a character, we need to know what it is they want, why they want it and what's going to stop them from getting it. And if you've got two protagonists or you know three, four, five, especially in a romance, then I like to know that for each of those leading characters and then how they relate to each other, Because the very best books in romance are when you have the protagonist or the love interests being part of the problem being the conflict for each other. One of my favourite quotes I think it's by Linda Howard, off the top of my head about writing romance is something along the lines of if you're, if you're, heroin is an arsonist, you're here, it better be a fireman or firefighter or something like that. You know, having that real conflict I think is great yeah.
Jenna Lee:Oh sorry, jen, no, that's what, and I knew you were going to bring that up.
Jenna Lee:I'm like that's it, and because that's how I do my books now and it's super helpful to know, and I always go back to that and like, yeah, having having that structure there, it really helps me when I get stuck and I'm like, okay, well, what's, hang on, let's go back and let's get clear on like, what's the motivation, what's their goals, and even breaking that down into the chapters something that we've been working on too.
Jenna Lee:As I'm writing at the moment like serial fiction and really, yeah, like just the changes of like because it's serial fiction and they're waiting a week to like go back into the story that start part, because I'm used to just continuing on like they're just continuing reading, but it's very much like, yeah, recapping them on what's sort of happened before in a smart way and then always ending like the chapter on a hook and like having having a clear direction for the chapter of like making sure it's not a boring, like there's actually stuff moving towards the overall plot and like adding in that conflict and those type of. Yeah, having a bit of a structure Definitely helps me, yeah.
Lauren Clarke:I think that's definitely one of the things that another self editing tip is to go through the book and check each chapter and make sure each chapter your protagonist is either moving towards or away from their goal, because if they're not doing either of those things, then the book will start to feel stagnant. And when I say move away from, I don't mean in an irrelevant fashion, but I mean in a like, like in a battle scene in Cinderella. Moving away from the goal would be the prince taking the shoe to the house next door to Cinderella's. So you know what I mean. It's not necessarily like he's not still pursuing the goal, it's just that he's not necessarily he's been thwarted. It didn't work out, Hmm.
Jenna Lee:Yeah, yeah, I love that. Is there any like specific writing or editing tools that you find particularly useful or like recommend to writers in that process before they go to editing? That might help them to have a cleaner manuscript before it gets to the editors. And I know some people like to just write, write a whole book and then just pass it on to the editor and be like I'm done, but I think, yeah, I think it's really important to go back over it before it goes to the editor. So is there any yeah, any tools that you recommend for that?
Lauren Clarke:I think that I completely understand that feeling of being like, oh my gosh, just take it away from me, I don't want it anymore. Like because it's it's a lot writing a book and you can get so emotionally exhausted and it's hard. But I always recommend to my clients and to any writer really to try and edit yourself first before it goes to an editor. And the reason for that is you are always going to be the best person to take your story to the next level until you can't take it to the next level anymore. Because if you've sent it to me and you're thinking, oh yeah, you know what I forgot full stops all through chapter two, the whole thing's just a run on sentence. Or you sent it to me and you're thinking, oh, this character, her definitions a bit wavy. She's sort of quite impulsive in chapter one but by chapter five and six she's really decisive, and then in chapter nine she's impulsive again and there's no connection or no, no sense of flow. If I'm having to fix those things but you know you could fix them I might be so caught up in those things and trying to explain to you the best ways that we can make them work that I might not see another underlying problem, or I might not see a problem that could be created when you do fix those things, because obviously everyone fixes things in different ways. So, yeah, I always really recommend. I think that an author is the best person to move their book forward until they no longer can.
Lauren Clarke:When it comes to tools, I think there are lots of great things that we can do. I am a big fan of reading aloud. I really think reading aloud can help you get a lot. So, whether that's getting your computer to read to you or reading it yourself, if you're reading yourself and you're doing it on a like a micro level, you're looking at a line by line thing. I like starting at the end of your book and reading each page, so from top to bottom, not bottom to top, because that's not going to really help you with anything, but reading each page top to bottom from the back of your book, and that will help you identify different things, like sentences that may not flow or words that are missing, because it helps your brain disengage from the flow of the story and you stop naturally predicting what's going to come next.
Lauren Clarke:There's also lots of different software. As you know, there's Grammarly ProWritingAid, a tool that I use is called PerfectIt, which is a bit more editor driven. I think that you know you can use those things. You don't have to. They are useful tools though.
Jenna Lee:Yeah, and it's interesting. I've seen a lot of posts and a bit of yeah, a bit of discussion and sometimes heated discussion around using those apps because they are AI generated and it's a huge topic, obviously in the writing industry and I don't agree with AI, but it's interesting. A lot of yeah, like how they use AI and like people being like oh well, if you do use those editing tools, then do you have to say on Amazon when you're uploading, because they've got the whole new AI thing of like, does this book have AI? Whatever? Is that like? Do you have to say yes to that or is it a cert? Yeah, it's a hot topic and I'm a bit curious about it.
Lauren Clarke:I know I would love to get a lawyer's take on that. Not comfortable saying what I know like yeah, yes or not, it's a very yeah interesting.
Jenna Lee:And I've been using pro writing aid and it's quite interesting. They've got like this whole rephrase section on it and it's quite interesting how it rephrases it. But it's very telling. It's very like and your voice is always in my head of like no, we're showing, like don't tell. And I'm like analyzing them. They are like, oh, this is very telling, like yeah, it's interesting what it's sort of, because I'm like, okay, let's just look at the, what it actually does and how it rephrases it. It does have like it gives you some good points of like okay, like what to sort of add into it. But I think it's very much using it as a tool to then help you in a way of not just like rewriting your whole thing, but using it in a way that can help you expand certain things. Okay, I need to add more detail here, or whatever it might be.
Lauren Clarke:Yeah, I think those tools. Yet they are. They can be useful. I just don't ever think that they're a placement. Obviously, I'm going to be biased. Right, I'm in edit, yeah, but sometimes the apps they get things wrong. Gosh, microsoft Word spell check gets things wrong. One of my favorite sentences that wasn't flagged for being an error was she was a sexy one ton goddess, and so instead of written writing wanton, they'd written one ton like this, sort of like dumpling food, and Microsoft Word is like yep tick. That's a good sentence. Yeah, obviously it wasn't what the author intended, although sexy one ton goddess sounds pretty good to me. Yeah, we're just like that. As a new, that's my new personal self description. That's my own bio.
Jenna Lee:Yeah, it's quite, it's quite interesting. The whole AI discussion at the moment and I get quite heated about it In discussions with people that aren't writers. They're like, oh yeah, well, that's just the way it is. Like, no, like it's just. Yeah, I had a lot of family arguments about it over the Christmas break, but it's a whole yeah, it's a whole topic on its own and it's quite. Yeah, it's quite scary the way it's sort of going at the moment. But, yeah, taking away that creative element from creators and writers like ourselves, it's yeah, it's quite scary, but hopefully we'll. We'll beat it and, yeah, keep that human touch in terms of our yeah, our words and how how we write as well.
Lauren Clarke:I hope it doesn't disturb the industry too much, I think that human touch is what makes creations and certainly that's, as editor, is something that we always really try to do. We try to really respect the author's voice too, because it's up you and what makes your story unique. That's why AI can't replicate it. That's why you need to find an editor who gels well with you, who you connect with, so that you do have that, that, that respect for your voice that you are putting up and that is uniquely you, into the world.
Jenna Lee:Yeah, and that's a good way to be into. Like, when people are looking for editors, what do you sort of recommend the process that they take if they do want to find a new editor, but they need to work out like, yeah, do we work well together? How do you figure that out?
Lauren Clarke:I think there's lots of different ways. A lot of editors offer samples, often short samples. I know we do offer like a 2000 word free sample. We are always very we have like a pretty good conversion rate. Once we do our samples I think we've just found the most beautiful clients, so we're really lucky in that sense.
Lauren Clarke:But I think before you get to sample stage you need to look at other things, because there's no point getting a sample from a great editor or someone who you don't know. There's no point getting a great editor or someone who you think will be a great editor if their price range is out of your budget. So I think checking price range is important, checking schedule is important. If they're booked out for a year and you can't get on their books, then there's no point in both of you going through that emotion of like the sample, the editor doing the work, and then you either thinking yes, this person is perfect for me, or feeling upset if the comments are more you were hoping for. I think that yeah, there are a few things, but if you're actually back at the how do I choose?
Lauren Clarke:Stage, so before you've even found like a shortlist, definitely ask your friends, look at the back of books of authors you admire and see who they're using. Do a Google search. There are a lot of different industry associations to like. The editorial freelancers association is a big one. We're in Australia, we have iPad, or editors New South Wales, which I'm a member of, and these are just industry bodies that can help you sort of feel a bit more assured that the person that you're working with is reputable, isn't going to like disappear and run off into the night with your manuscript.
Lauren Clarke:And obviously, once you get to them that stage, once you've progressed past the stage where you feel comfortable hiring that person, the next thing as well is to make sure that they do have a booking agreement or some sort of a contract in place, because you know that's as much to protect you as it is to protect the editor. The editor obviously needs to know that you're going to pay and deliver, and then you want to be sure as well that the editor will give you the work back, that the editor is going to treat you with respect that there is, that the editor isn't going to steal your book. There is all that sort of things. So, yeah, I think there's a few different ways.
Jenna Lee:Yeah, and when would you suggest like looking at that in terms of like, how far you are into your book and it's quite an interesting thing, like a lot of people wait till they're finished and then be like I need an editor in two weeks and it doesn't work like that, like a lot of the really good editors and like yourself and your team, like you booked out well, well in advance, and I think it's important to look at that at an earlier stage.
Lauren Clarke:I think so. I think that Certain people work well with different conditions. Some of our clients need that deadline or they can't finish their book. Yeah Well, I'm just not going to be motivated to get it done unless I know that my editing date is like May 14 or whatever the case may be. But then we have other clients who, if we book in a date for them, they won't make that date, and that can be really hard for us because then especially, I'm pretty flexible. It doesn't really personally hurt me, but if it's one of my team members and then that means my team member goes without work, that's really hard if they're only canceling like a day before or something. So I think, like knowing what personality type you are helps, or finding an editor who's willing to work with that, who's willing to, just like you know, wait till you finish, set you an editing date if you don't meet it, who's able to push it back, who's able to keep moving things along, which sometimes we can as well. It just depends on the client and what they expect.
Jenna Lee:Yeah, and I think having like a few editors that you're comfortable with as well in terms of your editing team, like having a few options, definitely, you know, depending how many books you're sort of releasing and publishing each year, but, yeah, having a bit of a schedule. But then, of course, shit happens and I've been bad in the past. I'm like, yeah, I'll have this book and then just, yeah, things happen and you have to change it. But I think having back up like different editors as well that you're comfortable with, that you've got a good relationship with, and having, yeah, like two to three, I think, is good, yeah.
Lauren Clarke:I think that's great, and especially because it gives you the experience of working with different people, seeing different perspectives, although, when possible, if you're working on a series, I think having the same editor or having a strong style sheet, like a sheet that tells you the choices that the editors made, why they've made those choices, that can be passed from editor to editor, is great, yeah, series definitely.
Jenna Lee:Like, yeah, having the same editor because they know the world, they know, yeah, they know what's happening and how they edited book one and like, yeah, you definitely want to use the same editor if you can in the other books. Now I want to sort of finish up talking about, like writing coaching, because that's something that we've worked together for many years on, and, yeah, why all of this should have a writing coach and I can like talk on this. I always talk on this and be like all right, my writing coach Laura. After every session, I always get on and do a video and I'm like, oh, just how powerful having a writing coach is, so maybe we can chat about that, of like, maybe what we do in our sessions and, yeah, how supportive it is outside of having an editor and your editing team. That writing coaching element, because it's a separate yeah.
Lauren Clarke:I love writing coaching because it's all the things that I love about editing, but in a face-to-face format. It means I get to talk to you and discuss your book in person, geek out over your words and do it with you together, which I think is really great. Yeah, the things that we sort of do in writing coaching and every writing coach is different, so there's no one size like or one step situation, but what we offer is we offer accountability. So usually we meet twice a month and so we'll set goals. So the next time we meet up, we can discuss how you've progressed, if you're moving towards the goals. We discuss productivity tips, so things that may help you produce more or produce less, because sometimes we're so focused on getting more done but we forget that we're all so different and we all have different capacities at different points in our lives, so it's not always about more. Sometimes it's about pulling back and making difficult choices.
Jenna Lee:What I'm doing this year.
Lauren Clarke:I'm gonna say not to point anything, however.
Lauren Clarke:But yeah, so we set goals, we talk about productivity, we talk about mindset, and then we do that on both, like I said, a two-weekly sort of basis.
Lauren Clarke:But we also then discuss quarterly goals sometimes or goals for the year, depending on what it is that the client wants.
Lauren Clarke:And then we have the ability to for the client to send a 2000-word sample ahead of the meeting or maybe it's a synopsis of your story, or perhaps it's a blurb or something that you're having trouble with on a bigger picture level, and then I'll go through that and work out. If it's just a 2000-word part of a scene, then we'll look at different developmental things that could make it stronger, make sure that it's ticking all the right boxes, hitting the notes that it has the potential to hit, or if it's something like a synopsis, we look at the story overall and discuss how, discuss if it's meeting certain beats and discuss how it can be stronger. So, yeah, I love that. I feel like most of my clients after my sessions say that they do feel empowered and excited about writing, and I think that's great, because writing is such a solitary journey and it can be pretty lonely at times. So having someone who's just invested in you, who isn't writing their own book at the same time. I think that's kind of nice.
Jenna Lee:Yeah, and that's me after every session.
Jenna Lee:I'm like, oh, and Dylan, my partner, I'm always like he's like we've had a call with Lauren, have a joke today, so I just come out, oh, talking about my book and what sort of happened here, and then Lauren this and that, and yeah, it just in terms of like accountability and moving that needle forward and just even like going over the manuscript and what we go over it on the call and we have the screen up and you sort of explain, you add your like a normal edit where you add your comments and try this, do this, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and then we go over it together.
Jenna Lee:So you explain it in more detail and, yeah, just how much that helps to have another set of eyes that really dig deeper and make it 10 times better in terms of like what I've put there is good, but let's expand it and add this and let's change this, and I remember this goal, or how about we do this and like just that teamwork and that back and forth like just makes it a million times better. And it's just, yeah, just amazing, amazing, amazing.
Lauren Clarke:I think it's like it helps with that. Something that we always like my team and I always keep in mind when we're editing a book and it certainly is really relevant for coaching calls is that it's solutions-based. It's not like easy problem. It's like how can we raise the stakes? Here's a list of ideas, or let's brainstorm them together, or here's the solution, but that's not the solution for you, because I can see your face and your face is saying no, that's not gonna work.
Lauren Clarke:So let's talk about something else. Let's try and find a way that we can make this story just epic.
Jenna Lee:Yeah, solution, but I love that. That's so true. That's yeah, definitely, definitely. So how can our listeners find out more about you? Do you have writing coaching availability? And don't kick me out so I don't know.
Lauren Clarke:So you can find out more about us at the website, which is wwwcreatinginc Spelt the usual way creatingincwithaKatheendcom. You can also find us on Instagram and Facebook. At creatinginc, the prices for coaching and editing guide are all on the website and, yeah, you can also email at anytime. Hello at creatinginc and my beautiful operations guru, tracy. We'll get back to you and we do have availability for writing coaching at the moment and some of our editing services.
Jenna Lee:Yeah, amazing, amazing. I love that and I can vouch for Lauren, so if you need any like referrals or asking questions, you can email me too, and I can definitely vouch and answer any questions as well that you might have. But, yeah, thank you so much, lauren, for coming on. This has been a long time in the making and, yeah, I really wanted our listeners to find out more about you your amazing editing team and your writing coaching and I just think you're bloody amazing.
Lauren Clarke:Well, the feeling is very much mutual. Thank you so much for having me, jenna, and I can't wait to chat to you again soon.
Jenna Lee:Thanks for listening to the Daring Author podcast. If you love this episode, don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review, and if you are ready to grow your author business with the support of the Daring Press book, in your free discovery call today, before places fill up. We'll see you in the next Daring episode. Bye.